


The internet is always right

by bunnysworld



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 2018 Winter Olympics, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 18:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13794033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: Merlin tweets something to the wrong account on accident. It’s so embarrassing, but it’s out there now. Hopefully, the person it is about wouldn’t get wind of it.





	The internet is always right

"Fuck!“ Merlin closed his eyes and groaned. This was unprofessional, he should have paid more attention. He was in PyeongChang to do his job, to report from the different sport events, to get interviews with the athletes from their team, to cover the ‘behind the scenes’. He had gathered quite a following on twitter with his funny snapshots and looks into the lives of athletes at the Olympic village. 

That he had tweeted on this account – and not his own private one that was his connection to friends and family – that he had a crush on their freestyler was the most unprofessional thing he had ever done and most likely the end of his career. It wouldn’t matter if he deleted the tweet. It had been up for over an hour before Gwen sent him a text about it, everybody would have seen it. Screenshots of it would probably already be up all over social media. 

It was true. He had a crush on Arthur Pendragon. They had run into each other at their team’s house at a celebration of some sort – someone’s birthday? – and hadn’t more but made a bit of small-talk, the skier promising the reporter an interview at some other point and them sharing a few smiles across the room. Arthur was just…everything Merlin had ever dreamed of. He was gorgeous and had a contagious laugh and Merlin had felt all nervous and relaxed at the same time in his presence. He thought it would be funny to reveal to his friends that he had crushed on the hot blond. Instead, he had revealed it to all the world. Damn. 

That the half-pipe event was next on his schedule didn’t really help. Happy, that it was so cold that he had to wear a thick beanie all the time which also prevented everyone from seeing that his ears were burning, Merlin grabbed his things and made his way to the shuttle bus that would take him there. He had been looking forward to seeing Arthur’s competition. Of course, his report would have been biased, but the man was a sight to see, so who could blame him? That he wasn’t really the expert on this sport didn’t matter, he wasn’t here to give a detailed description of the turns and flips and whatever they were called, but to catch the atmosphere and reactions of the crowd. 

He found his seat and tried to get comfortable. It was so damn cold – why couldn’t he report from the summer Olympics? – and the wind had picked up again. Weirdly, they hadn’t cancelled the event. Everyone knew they were in trouble with the scheduling due to the weather conditions. Some of the competitions had to be postponed already and that screwed with TV scheduling world-wide. Merlin was all for cancelling if the weather got too bad since he had seen a training accident due to it being too windy. The health of the athletes should be put first. But they apparently lived in a day and age where contracts and money was more important. 

The event started and Merlin tried to concentrate on his job. He took a few notes and tried to keep the starters apart by the colours of their gear. Oh, here came Arthur. Merlin felt the adrenaline rushing through him and his cheeks heating up again. He threw looks around, but nobody paid him any attention. Yet, he had the feeling everyone stared at him. He hadn’t dared to check his twitter again. For once, he didn’t have time to do so and he feared that the reactions would keep him up all night. He took it as a good sign that his boss hadn’t called yet to give him a piece of his mind. 

Arthur’s run wasn’t flawless, even Merlin saw that. A few flips and that double-grab he always did were missing and once, the wind made him land too far in the middle of the half-pipe, so he lost a lot of momentum. From where he sat, Merlin could see that Arthur was pissed off. Since this was best of three, he had two more chances to show what he could do, but it was always better to give a solid first performance, that much Merlin knew. So he scribbled on his notepad before his eye sought out Pendragon again. The skier didn’t look happy. 

There had been rumours that these would be Arthur’s last Olympic Games. At the age of 34, he was rather old for a professional athlete and another four years to the next games were a long time. Anything could happen. Merlin knew that Arthur wasn’t world elite, there were other freestylers who had better conditions to train and therefore were a lot better, but he also knew that the man was competitive and wouldn’t just give up. If the wind threw one or two of the top players out of the competition, Arthur’s chances to get his hands on a medal weren’t bad. Which wasn’t a nice thought, Merlin knew. Nobody wanted to win because someone else had obtained an injury or something. 

The competition went on and Arthur delivered a great second run, which made Merlin jump up and shout out in joy. When the other journalists threw him strange looks, he blushed and sat down again. 

Even though he was wearing his thickest winter gear, it started to get cold and Merlin was looking forward to a hot soup and a tea, but he wouldn’t leave before Arthur hadn’t finished this. There he was, starting his third and final run.

The first few turns and jumps looked fantastic but then a gush of wind hit Arthur just as he left the half-pipe. Everyone gasped when it threw Arthur back and he crashed to the ground and slid down the middle of the half-pipe a few meters. 

Merlin didn’t even notice that he had jumped up and that he held his breath. Usually, when one of the skiers fell, they got up, made a disappointed or angry gesture, shrugged their shoulders and skied to the finish point. But Arthur didn’t get up right away. He made no gestures, it looked as if he gnashed his teeth in pain. 

The blood rushed in Merlin’s ears while he watched as the medic team tended to Arthur and helped him down to the finish line where he was immediately taken away to a tent. And from there to an ambulance, as Merlin suspected. He grabbed his things and ran out. 

Only then he noticed that he had no way of finding out what was going on. He wasn’t in contact with the team’s officials, he would get the information the moment everybody else got it. What was wrong with Arthur?

Merlin rushed back to the British house where he forced himself to have some hot soup while he waited. If he managed to get a hold of someone from the team, he might get some info. So far, nobody had showed up. 

He busied himself with a few tweets about the accident, always close to ranting that the competition shouldn’t have taken place due to the wind conditions. He didn’t bother checking all the answers to his last unfortunate tweet and ignored Gwen’s texts. It was embarrassing enough that he sat here, moping, waiting for news on Arthur’s health. Arthur, who probably had already forgotten that they had talked and didn’t care who he was at all. 

That was his life. He always crushed on unobtainable men. The ones who showed interest in him usually weren’t that interesting. He always wanted what he couldn’t have. He would die alone. But that didn’t matter now, all that mattered was that Arthur was alright. 

Merlin had no idea how long he had been sitting there, when someone sat down in the chair across the table. 

“Why the long face?”

Looking up, Merlin’s heart skipped a beat. “Arthur!” It was Arthur! Arthur with a cast on his arm, a bit pale, but already a big grin on his face. “What happened? How are you?”

“You saw what happened.” Arthur looked up at his teammate Gwaine who set a drink in front of him and winked at him. 

Merlin blushed. So Arthur knew that he had been there. “It looked horrible. They should have postponed the event, at least cancelled after you accident.”

“They should have. The wind was pretty shitty all day long.” Arthur took a long drag from his beer. “Can’t change that now. It happened.”

“What is it? Are you in pain? Should you have that beer, I suppose you’re on drugs?” Merlin was so happy that Arthur was still alive and so worried about him that he forgot to be embarrassed about his tweet. 

“Broke my arm. Clean fracture, it’ll heal, no surgery necessary. Yes, it hurts and yes, they drugged me up. I deserve the beer after all this, don’t you think?” 

Merlin couldn’t help but grin back. “Yes, you do.”

Arthur took another drag and then reached for the menu.

“Can I get you anything?” Merlin was already half out of his chair.

“How about, you get us both something? Or have you eaten already?”

“Just a soup to warm up.”

Arthur nodded. “I’d like some company, someone who’s not from the team and trying to make me go to my room to lie down, it doesn’t get better just from lying about and I’m hungry…How about the pulled pork burgers?”

Merlin grinned and went to get the food. He couldn’t believe it. Arthur must be so drugged up that he choose him to have dinner with. Not that he minded the dinner part. Any minute he could spend with Arthur was a good one. 

He returned with the food and once in a while, someone of the team came over to give Arthur a heads-up but otherwise, nobody bothered them.

“You know,” Arthur wiped his fingers on the napkin after making quite the mess while eating with one hand. “It was rather boring in the hospital, waiting for the Xrays to come back and all that…”

“Yeah?” What was he trying to say? Did he prepare some answers for the interview?

“I’ve checked my twitter while we were waiting…” 

Merlin paled. And blushed. And paled again. Or all at the same time. Arthur checked twitter. Which meant, he must have seen his stupid tweet. “Listen, it’s…I’m sorry, this wasn’t meant to be on the official twitter…it was…”

Arthur smiled. There seemed to be a faint blush on his face, too. “Hey, man, don’t…I…I kind of like it.”

“Kind of…” Merlin’s throat got tight.

“You know, between training and working there wasn’t much time to date or even see someone. I focussed on the Games. So…I don’t really know how to deal with your crush, what it means.”

Merlin’s heart sank. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…it’s just…when we…” Okay, this was the moment. It would either break him or…no, it would break him, but he owed it to himself to be honest. “I really liked what I saw. I don’t mean your looks, even though you look great.” He blushed even deeper. “I liked the way you were around people, I…I felt at ease, somehow. And that’s a rare thing for me when I first meet people. And then you smiled at me from across the room…and that touched something inside of me that…that hadn’t been touched in a long time and that sounds weird.” He made a face. “And then I wrote that stupid tweet. I’m sorry, I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

Arthur listened and then nodded slowly. “So it doesn’t mean you have a collection of photos of me on your wall at home and have conversations in your head with me?”

Merlin chuckled. “No, it’s not hero-worship or being a fan or something. It’s…it’s just one guy meeting another and wanting to know more about him.”

A shy smile showed on Arthur’s face. “I think I’d like that. Usually, people just want sports stats and advice on freestyle and such. Photos and autographs. Hardly anyone is interested in who I really am.”

“Well, I am. But I understand if this came across very weird and you don’t want anything to do with me.” Merlin worried his lower lip with his teeth. 

Shaking his head slightly, Arthur’s smile widened. “I want to. I would like to get to know you. You know…I don’t smile across rooms at just anyone. To be honest, you caught my eye. If you hadn’t tweeted, though, I wouldn’t have acted on it.”

Merlin smiled. “So, here we are.”

“We shouldn’t be.”

What now? First, Arthur said he wanted to get to know him and now he said they shouldn’t be here?

“It’s been a long, eventful day. You were right, I am drugged up – which doesn’t change what I said, I meant every word – and I should probably take more drugs and try to get some rest. And you probably have that blog to write or tweet some more?” Arthur smiled. “Could you…I mean…is there a chance you might consider writing your blog in my room? I might just lie there, with more painkillers and no, this isn’t meant as a cheap come-on. When I get with you, I want to be aware of everything and not be in pain, but…” Arthur scratched his neck. “I’m babbling…”

Merlin chuckled. “A bit, but I like it. If you want the company…just for the company…the answer is yes.”

They got up, Merlin gathered his things, waited until Arthur had talked to the team’s doctor again and then followed him to his room. 

It was a bit strange. Almost, as if they knew each other for a long time. While Arthur kicked off his shoes, took some more painkillers and got comfy on his bed, Merlin plugged his laptop in and started writing. It was easy to concentrate on the events of the day and the words just poured out of him onto the screen. He had no idea where this would lead them, they hadn’t even kissed or anything, but he had a good feeling about it. 

While Merlin worked on his article, interrupted by Arthur all the time who asked him lots of questions, Arthur checked his mobile and laughed. “What?”

Arthur held it out towards him.

There was a photo that showed them both sitting at the small table, laughing at something over dinner. 

“The internet thinks we’re adorable together.”

Merlin blushed a bit but laughed. “If the internet says so, it must be true.”


End file.
